In this article, author Hedstrom synthesizes familiar literary sources, but the
interesting angle is the use of philosophical categories from modern
thinkers (Foucauld, Bachelard, Bourdieu, Lefebvre, Eliade) and from
semiotics. The geography of the monastic cell is identification of
optimal space for the monk and hermit to pursue their project. The
spatial importance of the cell in the early centuries of Egyptian
monasticism evolves into the identification of the essential location
for seeking God. "The
dwelling facilitates true monastic work: the cultivation of a self
aligned with God and fellow monastics."

The cell is a panoptic residence. First, the cell teaches,
functioning as a center of training and self-discipline. As habitus
(Bourdieu), the cell harbors "dispositions or attitudes and behaviors,"
in turn becoming self-reinforcing memories. Within monasteries, the
cell refines the entire enterprise or habitus
of the monastery, of the
entire community.

Secondly, the special character of the cell provides
a protocol with respect to visitors (monks, superiors, novices, never lay persons);
early
monastic cells were not entirely solitary. Visitors reinforced the
sacrality of the cell. The intentions of the occupant transform the
cell or place into
a sacral space (Lefebvre). While temple and shrine transform from
public places to sacred spaces through the interactions of visitors,
so, too, the cell "becomes the essential area for living asceticism."
The intimate space represented by the cell "becomes the essential area
for living asceticism." The intimate space represented by the cell is a
product of the occupant's "thoughts, memories, and dreams," conceived
within the given space.

Thirdly, the sacrality of the cell "led to internalization of the
cell within the heart and mind of the monk." At this point, the monk
has
moved beyond the physicalness of the cell space, so that what the cell
represents is now the mind and soul itself. This is the deeper meaning
of
the famous advice: Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you
everything.

The negative aspect of a confined space that monitors and changes
the occupant (Foucauld) is here transformed into a positive and active habitus, especially as expressed in
the writings of Evagrius and Paul of Tammas, both of whom could
skillfully move from private (cell) to public (monastery and church)
spaces.

Hence the image or construct of the desert in the stories of the
desert fathers (and mothers) is not the essential trope but was
dependent on previouswork
cultivated in the habitus.
The desert was
not other-worldly as such but a social relationship of monk to
residence or building. This relationship parallels Kazi Ashraf's
presentation (The
Hermit's Hut:
Architecture and Asceticism in India) of the
relationship of hermit to hut in the ancient Indic world, for both Hedstrom
and
Ashraf study "the geography of asceticism."

Chronologically, the Life of
Antony by Athanasius, "laid the foundation for the distinct
nature of space occupied by Egyptian monastics." Hedstrom notes that
this earliest work, succeeded by Evagrius, Palladius, the Apophthegmata, and John Cassian,
set
the expectations of the entire eremitic movement and its goal of
an "internalized cell of tranquility, or apatheia -- a place free from
distraction."

The author makes an important point in arguing that the ordering of
space and the focus on the cell as sacred space and setting of ascetic
practice distinguishes the work of the early monastic writers from the
essentially literary efforts of
philosophical counterparts: Stoics, Epicureans, and Neo-Platonists.
Nevertheless, the biographical and ascetic strictures in Athanasius's Life of Antony parallel those of
Iamblichus's Life of Pythagoras.
Athanasius held multiple interests, and wrote as "an admirer, not a
practitioner." But the groundwork of themes "within recognized
architectural boundaries" were laid by him.

The first step is the decisive overview of the issue; the second
step is educative work with a teacher; the third step is solitude to
confront inner (and outer) demons, where no sacred space exists, but
finally accomplishing the breakthrough and addressing visitors, edified
by Antony's example. The fourth step represents the ideal remoteness of
space, combination of work and prayer, the accompaniment of companions,
and the occasional mountain descent to teach.

Modeled on an historical person, Athanasius thus telescopes the evolution of ascetic life culminating
not in church or monastery but in measured solitude. Importantly,
Athanasius demonstrates the appropriate space for each ascetic stage,
based on the negative (battling demons) and the positive (communing
with God). Athanasius expects that his reader will understand the relationship
between transformative space and the self.

The Egyptian monastic authors of this era agreed: types of dwellings
complemented the educative and transformative process. As the author
states:

The emphasis upon the individual
experience in one's cell
suggests that the ecclesiastic structure, and the rituals tied to it,
were not as effective in sustaining the ascetic in his spiritual
journey as was the cell.

Hence wandering -- even that ascribed to
Antony -- was discouraged and reproved, confirmed by later writers
Cassian and Palladius. Many monks affirmed loyalty to the cell by not
leaving it (the original anchorites), having disciples help them with
necessities. Visitors to a cell could be a serious disruption and a
threat to the sacrality of the cell.

The cell already harbored potential challenges. In his Prakticos, Evagrius helpfully
describes essential routines for the ascetic's habitus, and warns
against listlessness, restlessness, anxiety, resentment, despondency --
in short, acedia. In this
context, the physicality or materiality of
the cell does not matter as much as that of the occupant. The
sacralization of the space only comes with the activity of the
occupant.

Paul of Tammas extends Evagrius's discussion. Paul's On the Cell
is a manual -- not as well known in the West because Paul wrote in
Coptic. Hedstrom notes the appropriateness of self-viewing and
cultivation (Foucauld) in comprehending Paul's method, more advanced
than Evagrius in many respects. Paul elevates the cell to sanctuary,
virtually superseding the temple sanctuary and its prescribed
disembodied ritualism. God dwells more happily in the cell than on the
public altar, Paul seems to suggest.

While earlier writings posit the
spiritual struggle and the sacrality of the cell, Evagrius and Paul of
Tammas are explicit in identifying the cell with the inner recesses of
the temple and the tabernacle. But Evagrius and Paul speak of paths
that
elude most contemporaries, accounting for the greater popularity of
collections of sayings and practical advice versus their discussions of
more esoteric stages.

"As monastic space became
less angelic and more worldly -- or susceptible to daily concerns for
property, inheritance, and ownership in the sixth, seventh, and eighth
centuries," concludes Hedstrom, a decline deflects the modern
historian's interests away
from the topic of ascetic practices and more toward tangible archaeological
interests. But
the monastic search for the ideal habitus
continues, as it should.

Conclusion.

Revisiting standard literary sources from a fresh philosophical
perspective and a fresh framing of ascetics and their dwellings, author
Hedstrom provides a helpful explication of monastic and eremitic
thought in early Christianity.